From Venezuela, with Love
by Lady Dee M
Summary: Carlos moves with his family to a strange town called 'Night Vale' on his last year of high school, what is he going to find there? And exactly who is that boy with purple eyes? [High School!AU]
1. First Day

**Disclaimer:**** "Welcome to Night Vale" is property of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.**

**Summary:** Moving is always hard, especially if you're seventeen and on your last year of high school, but it doesn't always have to be. [WTNV High School!AU]

**Shoutout to the lovely DesertDaylight who helped me with this!**

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**1\. First Day.**

**Carlos **is a simple kid, or at least he likes to think he is. There wasn't much he wanted in life, he wanted to go to college and get a degree in a scientific field, and maybe a boyfriend in the meantime, some friends will be nice too.

He had been living happily in Venezuela with his family, thinking of attending University in Caracas, but then his father got a job offer in a security company in the United States, which was exciting yes, but it had him reevaluating his plans. This country seemed to have a very extensive program for Science fields though. The family had spent two weeks in El Paso, Texas, which was nice, and then took route to a little desert community in the southwest that wasn't even in the map; a small town by the name of _Night Vale_.

It had to be, scientifically speaking, the most interesting community he had ever seen.

That's what he was thinking as he walked along his parents and younger brother down the aisle in the Ralph's with his earbuds on, listening to some soft rock. He saw his mother piling some stuff in the cart and his father talking quietly to her while holding his brother's hand. He saw Fabian standing on his tip-toes, trying to reach a cereal box that was out of his reach, so he leaned over and got it for him, which earned him a small smile from the little boy as he put it in the cart.

He could see why they were brought along, as well. Statistically speaking, a quiet teenager with music on and an eight year old kid who had been promised he could help and get a candy as a reward for behaving were going to be less of a hassle than a pair of girls made by a twelve year old who is too busy texting her friends back at Caracas because she misses them too much to listen or a fourteen year old picking a fight over the very same reason as she is going through her rebellious phase and doesn't know how to express herself properly yet. Yep. That was the reason why Carla and Carolina were at home.

'_Did I ever have a rebellious phase?_' he wonders, but it was unlikely, he always got along with his parents and never had a reason to fight with them. Not even now, as he didn't have as much friends in Caracas as his sister Carla did, they weren't going to miss him, either. Which wasn't his low self-esteem talking, he could prove that hypothesis right then and there by checking his phone, which he did, and, what do you know?, none of his old friends had called. Then again, are people who just hang around you during school hours and are always asking to copy your homework really friends?

His father taps him on the shoulder, which makes him remove one of his earbuds and lift his eyes from his phone to look at him. He asks in hushed tones, so Fabian doesn't hear, he supposes, if he could go get some candy, so off to the candy aisle he goes. He keeps one earbud off just in case.

"_Carajo"_ he mutters quietly before pouting when he sees that they don't have the candy bars he likes, he knew that they didn't sell the same sweets that his home country did, but weren't Snickers or even Kit Kats supposed to be from the US? Or was it because he was in a city that didn't even show in the map? Jeez, he really wanted one of those. He didn't curse often, just every once in a while, when his mother wasn't around to chide him for it.

"That's not a very nice word".

His head snaps to the side so fast he hears a faint _pop_ just right behind his neck. There, to his left, is a boy around his age, he guesses, with black hair tied back in a small ponytail and mischievous blue eyes.

"You know Spanish?" he asks, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yup, my grandparents are Cuban, so I speak a bit of the language, you?"

"Venezuelan, born and raised" Carlos answers, hands in his pockets now.

"Nice! I'm Dave" he introduces himself, before sticking out his hand for Carlos to shake, which he does.

"Carlos" is the simple response he utters to the other boy.

He spends some time talking with Dave, but later gets a text from his parents asking where he is, so he bid him goodbye. Dave tells him he hopes to see him at school that very same Monday. As Carlos walks back to his parents with five chocolates bars on his hand and wondering if Dave is going to even remember him if he manages to cross paths with him again, he thinks he hears what sounds a lot like someone gasping behind him, but when he turns, no one is there. Weird. But, then again, this place is the epitome of weird, so he doesn't pay much attention to it.

That Monday, he wakes up much earlier; the sun isn't even up yet, or at least he thinks that it is too early. One look at his clock lets him know that it's actually 7:00 a.m. and the sun was supposed to be up in the sky by now. Wait… that was interesting… how was it even possible? Was his clock broken? No, he could see it wasn't the case when he turns his phone on and it displays the same hour that his alarm clock does.

A knock on the door shakes him from his thoughts and he props himself up on his elbow when his mother opens the door. She is already dressed in her work clothes, she works as a nurse and got a position in Night Vale's General Hospital, she is starting today as well.

"Buenos días, Carlitos" she smiles. "I don't know what is wrong with the clocks, but it seems it is seven o'clock. So get dressed and come down for breakfast, okay? You don't want to be late on your first day, hm?"

He reluctantly gets up as his mother closes the door and gets ready for the day, not really looking forward to it.

It wasn't that bad, really. He bumped onto Dave when he entered the place, so he introduced him to a girl named Rochelle and two of her friends: Mark and Nilanjana. Funnily enough, not only were they all new in town like him. They were also into science. Yeah, to say he felt welcome was an understatement. By lunch, he had also met Stan and Louisa, new in town and into science as well; also dating each other.

The seven of them did what new students do and stayed together. They were sitting together in one of the biggest lunch tables, discussing if they should look up the school clubs and create a science one if they didn't have one already, when it happened.

Carlos is hungrier than usual, which he chatted up to the different schedule he had. He has never been to school from eight a.m. to three p.m., only attending in the mornings instead.

"Excuse me" says politely a girl who approached the table. She is petite, with dark skin and wild black curls held in place by a pink bandana. "Hello, my name is Dana Cardinal" she introduces herself, seeing she had everyone's attention. "May I sit with you?"

"Of course!" Rochelle answers cheerily. "The more the merrier!" Dana smiles and sat next to her, leaving a tupperware on the table. "You're the first one to approach, actually" she adds thoughtfully.

"Yeah, everybody in town is a bit like that with interlopers" is the explanation she gives, opening her container, revealing some sandwiches. Carlos thinks it is a strange way of referring to new people but whatever, must be common in Night Vale. "Not my friends and me, though", she clarifies. "Is okay if they sit with us when they come in here?" Rochelle nods eagerly. "Great! In fact…" she turns to look at Carlos, "…one of my friends thinks you're cute and wants to know your name!"

Carlos is taken aback by that. There is laughter and a couple of wolf whistles from the others while he shrinks in his seat, Dave even elbows him in the ribs muttering a playful _`you heartbreaker'_ for only them two to hear. He had never been told that someone thought he was cute, well there was _one _time, but he knew Camila didn't mean it and she was only doing it for a bet. He looks sadly at his lunch, no longer hungry anymore and faintly hearing Dana calling someone over, he doesn't want to turn and face the girl that had said such thing, mostly because he would have to come out in front of everyone and he is not quite ready to do it in front of his potential friends. However he is greatly surprised.

"Dana? Weren't we going to sit on our everyday table?" is the question asked behind him.

And Carlos has to turn his head; he has to know the owner of that voice; because it isn't a girl's voice. It is a male voice. Was it possible that the one who called him cute was another boy?

The boy in question freezes when he turns towards him. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't _that_. He wasn't not tall or short (probably taller than Carlos, though), not thin or fat, but it wasn't his complexion what brought Carlos' attention. It was his eyes. They are purple in color (probably contacts) and partially hidden by glasses with a violet frame. His hair is black but seems to be bleached at the top, since that part was white and styled back. His clothes were equally out of place, he looks like an office worker, with a purple dress shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up, a black sweater vest and a black bowtie.

"Which one of you has a crush on my friend here?" Dave asks teasingly.

That makes Carlos notice there is a second boy there as well, he is a bit taller than the other, with a red short crew cut and freckles over his forearms and face, and wears a Boy Scouts uniform. Also, Dave had said that he was his friend, which was nice.

"Dana Cardinal!" hisses the boy with the pretty eyes, making the redhead laugh. "Earl Harlan!"

Cute boy or not, he wasn't going to make Carlos look like a fool, so he counterattacks.

"Were you the one that wanted to know my name?" he asks, before stretching out his hand for him to take. "Hi, my name is Carlos".

"_Carlos?_" the boy repeats dreamily, before taking his hand which lets him see not only the strange purple markings that look an awful lot like tattoos, but also a little bracelet made up of different colored pearls that, together, form a rainbow, could it be…? "I'm Cecil Palmer…"

And, against his better judgement, Carlos grins at him, earning a love-struck sigh from Cecil.


	2. Pins and social media stalking

**Disclaimer:**** "Welcome to Night Vale" is property of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.**

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**Summary:** A fundraising is happening in the Night Vale High School's football field, some revelations are made and there's a complaint or two about romance novels (or lack of thereof).

**2\. Pins & social media stalking**

Night Vale is confusing.

Those are Carlos's thoughts as he waits on the hallway for the rest of his friends to join him. There is a little fair-like thing going on in the football field, a fundraising of sorts. He had already went there, just to take a look and see if it was worthy going back there later with his friends. It looked fun and he even bought something.

He bought a rainbow colored pin, which now was latched to his flannel's lapel.

He hadn't come out to his friends the day Cecil asked to know his name, but he hadn't said he was straight either. So far, the only one who knows for sure is Dave. He had built quite a friendship with the boy; he felt he could say they had truly become good friends.

"There you are!" says the boy in question approaching next to all of their friends and beaming when he sees Carlos' pin. "Hey, man, look! Can you believe they had these?!" he asks excited, pointing at the pin that adorns his Dr. Who t-shirt. Unlike Carlos' it has only three stripes; pink, yellow and blue. "I bought like three!"

"What are you going to do with three?" he asks jokingly, even when almost _feeling_ the stares from the others, he tries really hard not to look at them, though.

"One goes in my backpack, other in my clothes and one in case I lose either one, see? All planned!" he answers like is the most obvious.

"Carlos, baby" Rochelle says sweetly, it is not hard to see why Louisa keeps saying she is the group's 'Mama Bear', "stop looking like a deer caught in the headlights, nobody is going to say anything, okay?" then she points at her own shirt. There is a pin there too. It has four stripes: black, grey, white and purple.

"Yeah, it's cool" Nilanjana chimes in.

Carlos blinks, clearly surprised, but then he smiles and thanks them. His heart feels heavy with acceptance and he has never felt like that before. He loves the sensation. If this keeps up he is going to cry…, of joy, of course. However, Dana approaches them and instantly does a double take on Rochelle's pin.

"Disappointed, Cardinal?" she jokes.

"Got my hopes up for a second, not gonna lie" she points at hers, it has a lot of stripes in pinks and reds with a kiss mark on a corner. She then turns to Carlos and Dave. "You guys got one too, cool!"

"Yup, may as well attract some potential suitors" Dave states, making Dana nod in agreement. "I wonder…" he says thoughtfully, before putting on his other two pins. "In theory, this will attract more people who might be interested" he explains to his friends.

Carlos makes a move to remove his.

"Maybe I should…", but Dave's hand stops him by gently grabbing his wrist.

"Nope! I will keep at least one of mine on, if you keep yours", he smirks at him. "Gay-Pan solidarity, dude"

"I'm keeping mine on too!" Rochelle joins.

"Me three!" adds Dana raising a fist in the air and jumping a bit, making her sailor pink skirt swish a little.

"What are you doing with so many pins on, Lab Rat?"

Everybody turns to see Earl, followed by Cecil. Earl's pin has three stripes: pink, purple and blue and is latched on one of his uniform's short sleeves, next to a badge that must only exist in Night Vale, while Cecil fidgets nervously with his rainbow colored one, attached to the velvety purple vest he is wearing over a white dress shirt. Carlos thinks he looks really cute when he is nervous and smiles at him. He smiles back.

"I'm proving a theory, Boy Scout" Dave retorts, rolling his blue eyes and crossing his arms, then smirks again, smugly. "You just proved me right".

The group then takes off to their next class. Night Vale High School has a small population that is always _decreasing_ in numbers, given the perils of daily life in the community; therefore all of the classes are grouped out by age, thing that Carlos doesn't mind too much, knowing that it allows him to be with his friends. As they enter the Literature class, which he knows is one of Cecil's favorites, he notices said boy watching him sideways. Has he noticed the pin? He hopes so…

Carlos likes Cecil; he was kind to him from day one, but… Cecil scares him. No one has ever said about him the things the purple-eyed boy does; no one has ever showed that level of pure and unmistakable _adoration_ for him before. And he also doesn't want to hurt Cecil, (which has nothing to do with whatever Earl and Dana plan to do with him if they feel Cecil is unhappy, which in itself is a possibility scary enough) and a small part of him feels that _he _is the one that is going to be hurt if the other boy ever decides to take his rose-colored glasses off and see him how he really is.

How he is even supposed to act? He treats Cecil like he will with any other friend, but will be lying if he said that their contact happens purely on school-related hours. They day they met, as they finished lunch and were heading to their next class. The Palmer boy handed him his phone number and told him to call him if he ever needed anything while flashing him a flirty smile.

Cecil Palmer is, scientifically speaking, the only thing keeping Carlos from losing what sanity he has left to the strangeness of this town. Every time he doesn't understand something, he calls Cecil, and he is more than happy to help him. He just wishes he could do more for the other boy, help him like he helps him.

The closest he had been to do so was inviting him to have a coffee in a café near the school to, _Dios…, _he freaking took him to the café_ to help_ _him with his homework_. It was the only thing that Carlos could think of in which he could be helpful, because, despite Cecil's enthusiasm about science, he is _terrible _at it. However, the Venezuelan boy definitely had to give him bonus points on the enthusiasm department. He tries to understand, really tries.

And he is not going to lie, either. Cecil is… a very good-looking boy, with a voice warm and sweet like honey and a face to match. He has a healthy respect of boundaries, unlike some grow-ups he has met in his life. The moment Cecil saw that the way they were sitting in the café, so next to each other their arms were pressed against each other's, was making Carlos uncomfortable, he backed away, leaving a few inches of space between them. He appreciated the gesture.

When he snaps out of his thoughts of Cecil Gershwin Palmer, he realizes he is only a block away from his house. Usually all the group does the trip back home together. Stan and Louisa don't, though, since the boy's parents had gifted him a car for his birthday (his dad is a business man and his mother a lawyer, so to say they're wealthy is an understatement) and he lives in the general opposite direction, Earl had a Scout Meeting at the entrance of City Hall, Cecil and Dana got a call from the radio station they're both interning at, Nilanjana was picked up after school by her father, Mark is down with the flu, while Dave and Rochelle decided to stay after school to see what they can do about the school's lack of a science club.

He doesn't mind walking alone; he just thinks it's curious that in a group as big as theirs _no one else_ had to take the path home that day.

He sighs and enters the house. As expected, his siblings are already home, since his father picks them up, because the middle school is right next to the elementary the youngest member of the family attends. He can practically hear in his head how his sister Carla complains about it. All she does lately is complain, it seems.

"Carlos, hijo, is that you?" asks his father from the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me!" he announces taking off his bag but not leaving it by the door, since he knows it bothers his mother to no end, to be honest, he wishes they could just speak Spanish at home, it will make the place feel a little bit more homey to him. However, Fabian is still having trouble adjusting to the changes (he is not the only one) and switches back to Spanish without noticing, it's not strange, he is only eight years old after all, but to help him everybody has agreed to speak English around him so he gets adjusted faster. He can see the logic behind that, begin exposed to the language constantly makes you fluent at it, he wonders if he can help by explaining things to him in English when he helps him with his homework before dinner tonight.

He enters the kitchen and leaves his school bag on a chair, he has homework to do. His father is working on his computer. Realizing he never asked, he wonders if he should perhaps ask his father about his new job. He retired as cop after an injury in the line of duty; luckily it had nothing to do with guns or bullets. He now works as a consultant for the company that moved them to Night Vale. He had heard something about the library? But Cecil had told him the library is extremely dangerous, and that the librarians are horrible monsters, so he rather not think about that.

"How was your day?" his father asks, still typing away in his laptop.

"Fine, I guess, do you want a glass of juice?" he offers after serving one for himself, his father nods. "Here you go. What about your day?"

"Thanks" he takes the glass. "Fine, I still don't have to go to the central yet, but they're surely keeping me busy". He frowns, before pointing at his son's chest. "Nice pin, is it new?"

"Hm?" Carlos looks down, noticing he had forgotten to remove it. He may have been closeted in school before today, but his family knew, he had come out on a dinner a year ago when he was sixteen. Everybody took it pretty well, his mother even thanked him for trusting them enough to let know and gave him one of her biggest hugs. Still, he didn't know what they would think about him wearing a pride pin. "Uh… this? Um, there was a fundraising at school and…" he starts to ramble.

"Looks nice on you" his father cuts in. "Just remember the rules, okay?"

"Okay" he says, biting his lips.

The rules, the infamous rules his father had set upon him and his sisters, they're rules about the kind of boys that he _allows_ to date his children. They're pretty simple: _no delinquents, no lazy good for nothings, no junkies, they better be respectful, if they're older than Carlos, then we're going to have a problem_,that kind of thing. His father is kind of old fashioned in that sense, but he agrees with those rules, especially with the last one, he doesn't want his sisters dating guys that are older than him; it's weird and he would feel they're begin taken advantage of. There is, however, a second part of the rules he doesn't like so much: _you better tell them your father used to be a cop and knows how to use a gun and hide a body, and that I have an alibi!_ He doesn't imagine himself telling Cecil that… not that he would _have to_! Why would he? Cecil is just a friend!

He enters his room, it's a simple room. The walls are painted a pastel blue and have a couple of George Michael and Nirvana posters hanging in them, while the carpet is a navy blue color. He takes off his shoes and leaves them by the door; he also puts his school bag on the chair by the desk and connects his phone to the charger, leaving it in the bedside table, next to the lamp.

'_I don't know why I worry' _he thinks, seating in the desk while fidgeting a bit with his pin, _'Papá didn't even flinch that time when I came home from school with my ears pierced or when I started using pearl earrings, he wouldn't really care about a silly pin…' _

An hour later, his homework for the next day is done. It's kind of an inside joke of the family that Rosa and Mauricio Marron had spent all the brain cells points on their oldest son. He is the smart one; it's what his sisters say. He is going to do great things, his mother says. But for now, this smart boy is going to rest a bit, he picks up his phone and checks his messages; Dave had sent good news regarding the science club situation that he promises he will expand on tomorrow's lunch; Rochelle had created a new group chat by the name of #_NerdsAssemble_, which makes him chuckle, Louisa has used it to send them some memes. He checks his social media, he used to only have a Facebook, but Dave and Mark convinced him to get an Instagram, which he doesn't know what for, he is not that good-looking to post that many selfies anyways.

He is scrolling past some stuff that Dave had added to his main page when he sees it.

Wait a second… is that…? Checking the user name, he realizes he is seeing a picture from Cecil's Instagram account: _Ceec_GP_. It's not a bad photo, very aesthetic looking, even. In the picture, the purple eyed boy is facing to the side, eyes closed, a smile on his face as he seems distracted, not seeming to notice the camera, while the sun shines over him. He is wearing a t-shirt with the Night Vale Community Radio logo over a side of his chest over a dress white shirt and a flower crown. He looks _so cute_.

"_Look at this cute picture my friend DanaCard took of me!" _the info says.

There are a couple comments on the picture, but he doesn't bother to read them, he can already see that Cecil looks beautiful; _he has eyes_, after all. Curiously, _a scientist is always curious_ (even if said scientist doesn't have a degree that proves he is one yet), he taps Cecil's user name, making it change color and display his full profile. It's one beautiful photo after another. He finds himself scrolling through the other boy's photos. There are selfies, pictures at the radio station, some others with Dana, Earl or both, even some with a strange purple creature with spikes on it's back (those ones are all blurry for some reason, and you can't really see much) that he assumes is his friend's cat Khoshekh. Cecil looks amazing in each one of them. He stops in one in particular.

In that shot, Cecil just faces the camera, smiling and dressed in a black and white striped and long-sleeved crop top, the smile on his lips is painted a dark purple that makes his lips look fuller (he is not surprised, he knows Cecil wears clothes of both genders and, _man _does he know how to flaunter them), he is holding a laughing little girl in his arms that Carlos recognizes as Cecil's baby niece Janice, daughter of his older sister Abby. He knows it's her, because Cecil has her picture as the screen lock image on his cell phone.

"_My sister is working double shift today, so I get to spoil my little princess! #TheCutestLittleThing #ILoveMyNiece"_, reads the info_._

He smiles again, how can someone be as cute as Cecil is? He had learned that his beauty was actually natural; Cecil didn't wear purple-colored contacts, nor bleached his hair for it to look white at the top. Hell, he had come to learn those "tattoos" that ran up his arms and seemed to move if you weren't looking directly at them, weren't even tattoos, but birthmarks he shares with his siblings. Funnily enough, Cecil's older brother Cal _does_ work in a tattoo parlor just out in the edge of town, though.

If he has to choose a word to describe him… it's _exotic_. Cecil is _exotic_. Is that why he is so drawn to him?

"Ey, Carlos, what are you doing?" someone asks.

He yelps, startled and almost drops his phone, finding one of his sisters standing behind him. Luckily, it's Carolina. Carla would have given him hell.

"_Ay, Dios_, _¡Caro, me asustaste!" _he pants in Spanish with a hand on his chest. "What do you need?"

"Were you stalking someone online or was I high?" she asks knowingly with a smile on her face.

"Stalking? What are you talking about?" he feigns ignorance, and it almost sounds convincing, because he didn't knew browsing someone's photos on _social media_ of all places was considered stalking. "Oh? Is that the book I lend you?" he says, barely hiding the relief in his voice at finding another subject of conversation in his sister's hands.

"YES and I'm very disappointed!" she says, shoving the book into her brother's hands with a frown. "They don't end up together, Carlos!"

"Um, Caro, this is a crime thriller, romance is not part of the main plot… also, it was never established they would-…"

"Come on!" she cries exasperatedly. "You know I love romance sub-plots! Do you have anything else I could read?"

"Well, I don't have any romance books…" he answers lamely, scratching the nape of his neck and biting his lips. Their father has forbidden any trips to the library, which he knows breaks Carolina's book-loving heart and, as an older brother, it breaks _his _heart in turn. An idea quickly pops into his head. "You know what? I have a female friend that loves romance books as much as you do, I will give her a call and see if she has any books she can lend you, okay?"

"Okay, thanks, Carlos!" she answers, quickly enveloping him in a hug that he reciprocates.

Carlos smiles as she leaves the room. Well, seems like he has to text Rochelle now and ask her for a hand.

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**Notes on the pins from the beginning:**

Cecil and Carlos = Gay pride flag.

Dave = Pansexual pride flag.

Rochelle = Asexual pride flag.

Dana = Lipstick Lesbian pride flag.

Earl = Bisexual pride flag.

**Spanish to English translations:**

"_Ay, Dios, ¡Caro, me asustaste!" __= "Oh, God, Caro, you scared me!"_

_**Monday, April 1st.**_


	3. Storms, secrets and samples

**Disclaimer:**** "Welcome to Night Vale" is property of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.**

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**Summary:** It's stormy season in Night Vale, meaning a lot of new material for a certain teen amateur scientist to try and piece together. A friendships strengths as some secrets are revealed. Carlos thinks about some relatives back in Venezuela.

**3\. Storms, secrets and samples.**

"**Here** you go" says Rochelle handing Carlos a couple of books. "I loved these ones when I was twelve, if your sis is anything like me; she is going to love them too"

"Thanks, Rochelle, she is going to be so happy!" he answers, storing the books safely in his bag.

The school has his own library that is librarian-free but it doesn't take a genius to know that most of the books are either censored or have propaganda-filled pages, which he refuses to give to his sister. Rochelle's books will have to do.

Is in this very same library that one of the most popular classes in Night Vale High School occurs, no one knows what the class is about, though. It used to be a regular class like any other, until whatever knowledge it held was ruled illegal and now it is two hours of doing actually nothing under the supervision of Mrs. Josie Ortiz, who is one of those _cool_ teachers that lets you call her by her first name.

Rumor has it the class used to be about the Hierarchy of Angels, which doesn't exists, so it's possible that is nothing but a rumor that has somehow found it's way through the hallways of the school.

Everybody chooses something to do, while Josie sits at the desk Carlos considers is the one where a librarian from the world he used to know is supposed to sit. Nilanjana is reading a book, while Louisa and Rochelle look at some make up tutorials on YouTube. Mark and Stan are playing cards while Dave plays games on his phone. Earl sews some badges he won over the past week, it seems like he is always bringing a new badge every time he sees him. Dana is seating on a bean bag, correcting some papers with a glitter pink pen; he doesn't know what they exactly are though, just that is something Cecil wrote. The boy with the purple eyes himself is resting his head on Dana's lap, his eyelids closed, arms crossed over his chest, expression serene… is he sleeping?

Carlos busies himself with a textbook about astronomy, not that any of the constellations depicted there are going to be visible from Night Vale, despite it begin one of the books he bought in El Paso before coming to town. He hopes it will be enough to distract him from the sleeping boy across the table, though.

Dave nudges him under the table and asks if he could talk with him in private. He is taken aback, but nods and follows him outside the library as the rest smiles at them. A few pay no attention, including Earl, who is still sewing, Cecil who, judging by the way his chest raises and falls, had fallen asleep and Dana who hasn't peeled her eyes off the paper as she keeps proofreading it.

As they walk, he can notice that Dave seems cheerier than usual, not that he is usually gloomy, mind you, but still. He almost appears to have a skip in his step as they walk down the deserted hallway. He is carrying a clipboard on the crook of his elbow.

"Hey…" he calls and Carlos looks at him. "You know I consider you my friend, right?"

"I consider you my best friend, Dave" is the response he gets from Carlos, he smiles as he says it.

"Aw, really, dude?" they both stop walking abruptly and Carlos nods, making Dave place a hand over his chest. "_Bro…_" he says emotionally, before adding in agreement; "neat, we are best friends now" as they keep walking. "Which brings me to my question… if you had a crush on someone, you would tell me, right?"

"Uh… yeah, I would, why?"

"No reason, just checking" he brushes off the subject with a flick of his wrist as he stops in front of a door that is at the far end of the hallway. "We're here!" the blue eyed boy takes out a pair of keys and uses it to open the door with his free hand.

They're promptly assaulted by a cloud of dust that makes them cough. As Dave turns the lights on, he looks at the room in dismay. It looks like it used to be a lab of sorts, with some outdated equipment and walls that are covered with equally outdated educational posters.

"Not gonna lie" he says, "I was expecting something better". Carlos cocks an eyebrow at him, still confused, so he sighs and explains. "The school said yes to the science club, they even gave us this classroom, guess they didn't bother to do the cleaning up, though. Ugh, I'm going to open the window, let's see if we can let the dust out or something" he huffs and hands the clipboard he brought along to Carlos, before walking up to the window and trying to open it. It seems stuck.

"…do you need a hand, buddy?"

"No… just give me a sec…"

The Venezuelan boy shrugs and lets his eyes read through the papers attached to the clipboard he was handed, that are basically school paperwork that needs to be filled in for the club, before looking up again at his friend's back, who is still trying to open the window.

"Um, Dave?" all he gets is a half-hearted grunt in response. "Why does it say my name in the _"Club President"_ um… part of the paper?" damn, that's not what he meant, what is the word he was looking for, anyways? He winces when his friend freezes, looking over his shoulder. Great, he probably didn't understand what he was trying to say. Carlos is (just like his siblings) still having a hard time adjusting to speaking purely English instead of Spanish and, so far, he is doing a pretty good job, he sometimes needs help with a few words he didn't know before, but it's mostly slang his friends use "Dave?" he tries.

"You weren't supposed to see that yet…" he answers, shaking his head, but smiling, before walking up to him. "I discussed it with Roch, and then with the rest of the guys, we all agree that you should be the president".

"But-, but-, but-…!" he stutters. He takes a deep breath, trying to put an order to his thoughts. "I'm flattered, really! But, um, I don't think I'm qualified for this…!"

"First off, flattered?" he snorts, interrupting him. "Dude, you should hate us, we basically dumped all the responsibilities on you!" Dave laughs. "Second, you're more than qualified, Carlos; you're the smartest of the group".

"I'm not" he countered. "Rochelle is better at biology than I am; Stan is very good with computers and Mark-…"

"You're also very modest" Dave added. "Dude, really, you will do great."

"What if I fuck it up?" he complains, not really caring if he is using the expression right, clutching the clipboard in his arms and looking at his sneakers. Not even he is sure of himself, how can everybody think he is fitting to do this? Well, his new friends don't know him that well, how long has he been attending this school? Two months? Two and a half? Whatever, time is weird in Night Vale, so he can't know for sure. He, however, can assure that his friends don't know him well enough if they think he can do this.

"You won't" Dave says, before taking the clipboard from Carlos' hands and a pen from his own pocket.

"How do you know?" is his muttered question as Dave writes something quickly on the paper.

"…because I won't let you" he clarifies with a smile as he hands him the clipboard once again.

And as Carlos reads…

_**Petition to form a school club.**_

_**Club activities:**__Science._

_**Club President:**__ Carlos Alejandro Marron._

_**Club Vice-President:**__ Dave Cruz._

…he smiles.

That very next Saturday, the group met at the school entrance with some cleaning supplies and the key of the room that is going to be their laboratory. The cleaning is going smoothly, in fact, they're almost done.

Nilanjana, who had brought up her laptop, opened it up on YouTube (with the school's WiFi) and told everybody they got a turn to pick a song, is wiping the windows. Rochelle and Mark are washing some glass beakers and test tubes in the sink. Dave and Carlos are sweeping while Louisa is putting some papers in the trash and Stan is preparing to mop the floor once his friends are done.

The current song, a soft k-pop ballad that Nilanjana picked, ends and she lets Carlos know that it's his turn to pick now. He approaches the table the laptop is sitting in and starts typing for a song he knew from his childhood and he liked a lot, he hopes his friends like it too. He clicks in the first video and one of Santana's most famous guitar riffs starts to play.

"Neat!" Dave approves as he sweeps the broom at the beat of the music.

"Dave, you should really take that broom to dinner", Stan jokes, and quickly adds "you have been dancing with it for the past hour", making everybody laugh.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Maybe you should try, _Lab Rat_, I don't think the broom is going to say _no_".

"What are _you_ doing _here_, Boy Scout?" Dave practically barks, turning to the door where Earl is standing smiling smugly.

"Oh, well, my meeting ended up early, so I decided to drop by to see if you guys needed any help" he explains.

"Okay, that's actually very nice of you…" Dave concedes.

"Also, I've found these two on my way here" the redhead steps into the room and gestures for someone who was outside to do so as well.

"Hello!" Dana greets waving a hand on the air, quickly followed by Cecil, who is carrying a pink box in his arms. "We thought you guys were probably hungry, so we brought some donuts!"

Rochelle suggests that a break is in order, giving how hard had everyone been working, so they drag a couple chairs while Cecil opens the box on one of the tables. The seats aren't enough for everyone, so Louisa sits on Stan's lap and Cecil does the same in a table next to Carlos who is just leaning against it. He offers the box to him first and the Venezuelan boy could swear he sees the other boy's hands shaking a bit.

Dana had launched herself into telling everybody about the multiple-mouthed monster with tentacles that showed up on the radio station's break room after someone's bloodstone chant went wrong. She was also extremely specific as to how Cecil bravely beat it with _a broom_ to save her and another intern and send the thing back to whatever plane of existence it came from.

"…and then Mr. Burton gave us golden stars! He does that when we do a good job."

"It was nothing…" Cecil corrects, clearly embarrassed.

"Nah, it was totally something, Ceec" Dana argues. "Too bad Jessica didn't make it, though…"

"She didn't?" Stan asks, surprised and confused.

"Yeah, she quit, said something about her credits not begin worth the trouble" the boy with the purple eyes explained. "Which, to be honest, I don't understand, the radio station is fun!"

Later that night, as a storm rages outside, Carlos draws the curtain of his window back to see the colorful lightings that zig-zag through the night sky, illuminating it like fireworks. Is this normal in Night Vale? Is the first time that it rains since he moved to the town, so he isn't sure. It's bedtime already, so he just lays in bed, earphones on and playing a soft song in Spanish.

'_Mírenla, miren, miren, miren mírenla… ella está tan sola, mírenla, en sus ojos hay placer, mírenla cuando te enamora…' _he hums to the song as he turns the lights off and lays back in bed.

Everybody is going crazy about the storm in the group chat, except Cecil and Dana, who are explaining that, yeah, _that's_ how an electric storm is supposed to look and _exactly how do electric storms look where you all came from?!_ Earl had probably gone to bed already since he is not responding to anything. The conversation drifts to another subject, so Carlos opens up his Instagram. He really should stop wasting data on browsing his social media, it's not like he posts anything anyways, but the #science hashtag of the site is actually really interesting. Also, he just saw a cute post on how to make a mini-volcano at home that he should totally try to recreate with Fabian. He would love it.

Again, an interesting photo shows up, and what do you know? It's from Cecil's Instagram. This time is a photo of the purple-eyed boy along with Dana and Earl, and, while they look good, it's almost like the seventies puked all over them. Cecil is wearing a purplish shirt with the word _GLAM, _in golden glitter and all caps and the shoulder falling off, and skinny leather black pants. You'd think that it will look weird along with the glittery golden eyeshadow but Cecil rocks it like it's nobody's business. Earl is wearing a tattered military green Boy Scouts of America t-shirt under a leather jacket with way too many badges attached to it and a flirty smile. And Dana is wearing a tie-dye pink long shirt that almost covers her blue jean shorts and a lot of jewelry. Cecil's arms are around his friends' shoulder, Dana is making a peace sign and Earl is doing with his hand that thing that heavy metal singers do, Carlos has no idea what that sign is called, but whatever.

"_I miss going out on parties with the two of you, we should fix that once exams are over!" DanaCard _

The Venezuelan boy briefly wonders if Cecil would accept going out partying with him… and he doesn't even like parties. But, to be with Cecil for any amount of time, just the two of them, sounds like the best time ever. They're always together in school, that's true, but always with their friends so it's not the same.

He looks to the window again, the raindrops hitting the glass from the outside leave different colored streaks that make everything behind them look like a surreal pop art piece, if Carlos had to describe them, he would say the raindrops look like diluted paint. He has a cousin back in Venezuela, Silvia, who studied art in Caracas and has taught him a thing or two. Silvia is older by five years and also really sweet, unlike her younger brother Diego, who is Carlos' age and kind of a jerk.

His phone lets him loudly know he has a message; it's from Dave.

_Dude! Are you seeing the storm? It's so crazy! I've never seen anything like it!_

_Yeah, I see it, _he types quickly, uncompromisingly.

He looks at the clock, it's eleven p.m., but clocks don't work in Night Vale, so who knows? The next day will be a Sunday, and he will most likely have nothing to do, except play maid for everybody else, since his siblings tend to trash everything they touch and he is the one left to clean the mess. He would just have to suck it up and… wait, maybe he could, like…, _not do that?_ He is _seventeen_, he will be eighteen really soon (basically an adult), and he has real friends now, he can go out for the day or something. _'And do what?'_ he wonders. His eyes drift towards the colorful storm that keeps growing in intensity outside and painting his window with the color of the rainbow, he could always see the aftermath of such meteorological event and take samples to see under the microscope they have in the school lab.

He grabs his phone.

_Hey, Dave?_

_Yes?_

_Do you want to hang out tomorrow?_

_I was about to ask you that! That would be great. We will have to hang out outside, though. My grandma saw some photos of me on Facebook and says I'm not getting enough sunlight, lol. Any ideas?_

_Oh, I was thinking about going to take a look around, see what the storm had left._

_Neat! I've got some test tubes from a chemistry set that my mom got me for Christmas last year, want me to bring them?_

_Yes! Great! I will bring some paper and stuff so we can write down the results._

_Sounds good to me, if it starts to rain again we can go back to my house and play some videogames I've got Call of Duty: Black OP!_

He smiles as he finishes planning out his next day with Dave. However, the realization that he hadn't asked his parents for permission hits him and he bites his lips. Technically, he is old enough to decide to where and when he wants to go out, but his parents may think otherwise. So, reluctantly, he takes his earphones off and goes to the kitchen, where his father is washing the dishes (he had took upon chores and housework duties since he is the one that basically works from home) and his mother is enjoying a cup of tea after a long shift at the hospital.

"Hi, mom how was your day?" he asks, entering. Is a simple question to start conversation while he thinks on how to bring the subject up, yeah, that's good. His mother smiles sweetly and moves back the chair next to her, before patting it. He sits and he can practically feel his father's eyes watching him full of suspicion. He wants to roll his but doesn't as he talks with his mother about her day. She seems overjoyed by the fact that Night Vale residents are completely afraid of doctors, so the nurses are the ones they turn to for help.

"Finally, the recognition I deserve" she concludes, taking a triumphant sip of her warm tea. "How was your day, _mi vida_?"

Carlos doesn't have much to tell; just that he had been cleaning up the laboratory all day. His parents had been really proud when he told them that his friends had decided to make him the club president. He can't really tell if they are happier about the fact that he is an important part of the club or the fact that he now has friends that share his interests. It's probably the latter, though.

"…and, um, I'm going to go out with a friend… tomorrow? If that's okay", he explains quickly, it sounds more doubtful than he intended. Damn it. "I-I promise to be back for dinner!" he adds. "I will probably be gone early, though…" _'Probably? But that's exactly what I arranged with Dave! Ugh, what a mess…' _he thinks while pondering if he should correct himself, but ultimately deciding against it.

"Okay, but be back for dinner" his mother agrees.

He hopes his parents will leave it at that, but, he also knows he's hoping for too much.

"This 'friend'… are they a boy or a girl?" his father asks curiously while drying the dishes with and old rag and Carlos wants to smash his forehead against the table in front of him. Of course he would ask something like that.

"A boy" he answers truthfully, "but he is just a friend, okay?" usually he would be embarrassed if either of his parents suggested he has a date or something, but, in fact, he is frustrated, he just wishes they would understand that just because he is gay it doesn't mean he finds every single guy in town attractive and that if he is hanging out with a male friend it doesn't mean he's going on a date.

Actually, there's only one guy in town he finds attractive and would like to go on a date with… But that's not the case this time.

"Are you sure?" he asks again.

"Dad, I'm serious" he complains.

"Hi, serious, I'm Dad" he finishes with a smile and Carlos wants to smash his head against the table, again. His father laughs at him and shakes his head while putting the dishes away. "Just be back for dinner, would you, Carlos?" he nods. "Good, go to sleep".

So, the next day he leaves early and goes to Mission Grove Park to meet with Dave, but he takes a moment to assess the damage of the storm. As far as he can see, everything is covered in vibrant colors, like someone has thrown giant paint buckets around. He can see a few of his neighbors starting to clean up, which means they're spraying water with buckets and hoses over the colored walls and sidewalks and the colors just… wash off. He can't wait to tell Dave about it, he waves as he sees that said boy is waiting for him by the park entrance, holding a case with a plastic set of the test tubes he promised to bring.

The park is covered in different colored puddles. How is it possible that some of the colors stayed the same? Didn't they mix when they fell to the ground? Why?

He and Dave talk a bit as Carlos gets down on one knee to fill one of the test tubes with purple colored… water? Yeah, water, because there's no way that this thing could be water but, for lack of a better term, that's what he is going to call it until he can see it under a microscope.

"Hey, hold still, I'm gonna take a pic for my Instagram" before he can react he hears the click of the phone, and turns to look at Dave, frowning. "Come on, man, you look good, don't worry. Oh! I'm going to tag _everyone_ so they can see what they're missing", the Venezuelan boy can only roll his eyes at this.

After filling most of the test tubes, they sit in a dry spot of the park, where the sun is shining. Carlos unpacks some cookies and leaves the box between him and Dave, so the other boy can grab them too if he wants one. However, the blue eyed boy just lies back in the grass, with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. He grabs a cookie and bites into it. The silence between them is comfortable, which is nice.

He can hear some laughter in the distance and just assumes there are some kids playing around in the puddles or something.

"Hey, dude", Dave calls and he turns to look at him, "don't look now, but your boyfriend is playing in the mud over there", he points with his chin in the direction from which the laughter he had thought was of children comes from.

"What…?"

He turns his head and there you have him. Cecil Gershwin Palmer is laughing and splashing around a few meters away from them. He is, of course, not alone, since he can see Earl and Dana with him, laughing as well. The Boy Scout is not jumping into the colored water, though, and is keeping his distance. He wonders why, but Cecil is the one that grabs his attention and stands out the most to him, but that could be because of the sparkly pink rain boots or the pastel blue raincoat with turquoise sleeves and pink pockets that goes down to his knees.

"You're staring too much" his friend informs him, he has flipped over so he's lying on his stomach and has put the cookie box in front of him. "Anyone would think you've a crush on him".

"What if I do?" he jumps defensively, before realizing what he has just said, Dave freezes while biting a cookie and stares at him, eyes open in surprise. "Ohmygod! No, no! I mean, yes, but…!" his friend starts to laugh, nearly choking in the cookie.

"I knew it!" he declares, before patting Carlos in the shoulder. "Why don't you stop acting like a creep and go say hi to your boyfriend?"

"He is not my boyfriend" he argues, clearly annoyed as he stands up, patting the front of his clothes to make sure there are no cookie crumbs on them and he looks presentable.

"Not with that attitude, mister" Dave agrees, scolding him, still munching on the cookie, but he just dismisses him with a flick of his wrist as he starts walking towards Cecil, Earl and Dana. What is he even supposed to say? Just hi?

As he gets closer, he also grows anxious, because he can't find the words. And he is so close now…

Something wet and cold strikes him right in the face, making him fall backwards. He clutches the side of his face, trying to wipe it away with his sleeve.

"Hey, are you-?" someone asks, approaching him. "Wait…, Carlos?! Oh, dear, I'm so sorry! Oh, my god, what a mess…" he recognizes the voice: it's Cecil; now muttering franticly as he kneels in front of him. "Did I hurt you? I was trying to hit Earl! I'm so so-!" is the explanation he tries to give, with his hands reaching out but not yet touching him, until he is cut off by a splash of blue water to the face, the color drips onto his cheek and jaw and even a bit of his white hair sports a soft blue hue now.

"Guess we are even, Palmer…" it's the only response he can manage to let out as he shakes his hand to get rid of the water and then uses the side of his flannel shirt as a towel to dry it. Good luck he fell _next _to the blue puddle, not _into_ it. That would have been embarrassing.

Cecil is silent for a few seconds, making Carlos fear he went too far with his joke, but as the purple eyed boy starts to laugh, he does too and relaxes a bit. Dana, who is standing a couple of feet behind them, smiles as the other boy helps him to stand up. He frowns, when he notices that Cecil's hand is a bit cold, and he speculates it may be due to either the weather or the fact that he was playing with the colored water, yeah, must be the second, since he can see now that there are some colored spots on the fabric of Cecil's raincoat. He grabs both his hands in his.

"Your hands are cold…"

"Well, yours are warm…" is the uttered response he gets from a bashful and blushing Cecil.

"So, what are you doing here, Carlos?" Dana asks, smiling. She has an orange splash on the side of her face.

"Oh! Well, Dave and I were gathering some samples of the rainwater that accumulated here at the park! We were just taking a break when I saw you guys and I wanted to say hi! Didn't mean to get splashed, though…" he finishes with a smile, looking at Cecil, his tone teasing. However, he quickly realizes he's still holding the other boy's hands and lets go of them. "So-Sorry…" he adds sheepishly.

"No, i-it's okay, really! My hands are warmer now, t-thanks!"

"Umm… I've some cookies back there, you guys would like some?" he offers.

"Yeah! I could totally use a snack right now!" is Dana's enthusiastic response.

The three of them go back to the spot Carlos was before. Earl is already there, sitting next to Dave and eating a cookie, unlike Dana's and Cecil's clothes, Earl's uniform is immaculate, without a single colored spot in it. Makes sense he was keeping his distance, if he was wearing his uniform.

"You, grouch!" Dana accuses, pointing an accusatory finger at the redhead. "You ran away!"

"Well, I can't get my uniform stained, can I?" he retorts, rolling his eyes.

Meanwhile, Carlos and Cecil sit next to each other in the grass, the purple eyed boy smiles shyly and the Venezuelan boy smiles back as he offers him the cookie box, from which he accepts one.

"Why on Earth were you wearing your uniform if you knew you were going to play in the puddles, Freckles?" Dave asks, clearly confused.

"I didn't know! Cecil and Dana just said we were just _'going to the park'_ and that's it! Also, the Night Vale Boy Scouts tend to hold the surprise inspections on Sundays, so I'm not risking it!" it's the redhead's defense, before eating what's left of his cookie and changing the subject. "Man, these are good, where did you buy them?"

After a bit, Dana's phone rings and she huffs. It's her older brother, who is going to pick her up from the park and take her home, because she promised to be home early or something. Earl tells her to message him when she gets home and Cecil nods in agreement.

"You guys baby her _too_ much" Dave criticizes, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they do" she agrees, smiling sweetly.

"We do" Cecil also agrees. "But only because she is younger".

"Hold up, hold up, _what?_" the blue eyed boy exclaims, frowning in confusion. "Dana, how old are you?"

"How old do you think I am, Dave?" she teases.

"Seventeen…?" he ventures.

"Actually, I'm sixteen; I skipped a year in school. I won't be seventeen until next spring…, but you're really sweet, though, everybody always says that I look younger than I actually am, can I hug you?" she asks, but does so without waiting for an answer. She pecks him in the cheek as she stands up. "Well, better get going, my brother will be by the entrance any minute now". She kisses both Cecil and Earl in the cheek as a goodbye and skips away, splashing a bit as she walks through the puddles on her electric blue rain boots, the four remaining boys chat a bit as they finish the cookies, after they watch her leave.

The clouds from the night before had returned, covering the sky and letting the sun fall behind them. Some minutes past, and as the boys laugh, not caring about the weather's change as they heard a voice and approaching steps.

"Well, well, what do we have _here_?"

"Rochelle! What are you doing here?" Carlos asks, surprised, but not unpleased, to see her.

"And what's with that tone of voice? Jesus, I thought my mom was calling me for a second there…" Dave confesses, with a hand on his chest but looking clearly relieved.

Rochelle frowns, before lifting her cellphone for them to see the screen, displaying one of Dave's Instagram stories, the one with a picture of Carlos filling the test tubes.

"I decided to came to help around a bit", she explains, fighting back a smile, "we all did" she then gestures towards Mark, Stan, Nilanjana and Louisa, who are a couple feet behind her, approaching slowly towards them. Carlos can't help but to think that the way they're smiling is a little bit creepy. "I, however, wasn't expecting to find you guys on a double date…"

Carlos face heats up as his eyes open in surprise, he tries to stammer a response but all he manages to get out is the beginning of a sentence over and over, making him sound like a broken record. He sees Cecil blushing hard out of the corner of his eye, while Earl and Dave let out things like _'dude, what' _and _'babe, this is not what it looks like!' _respectively.

A loud thunder in the distance makes everybody fall silent and look up at the sky. The clouds are darker now; it will start raining again any minute now.

"How much?" Cecil asks the redhead next to him.

"Ten…, no, fifteen minutes top. I don't think we can make it to my house, though…" it's his answer.

"Um, my house, then?" the purple eyed boy offers and Earl nods.

"My car it's outside the park" Stan offers in turn.

The group makes their way towards the park gates, there's two vehicles parked at the entrance: a white Toyota SUV with a black roof and a red Harley Davidson that looks like one of those eighties models you see in movies, but this one is new and shiny, without a hint of dust or mud, which is weird for the desert. Cecil and Earl say their goodbyes and get on the motorcycle, before speeding off. Carlos can't help but worry when he notices they weren't wearing helmets, but there's nothing he can do about it, so he just gets on his friend's car.

The closest house is Mark's, so that's where they decide to go, hoping to outrun the rain. The ride is a little uncomfortable, giving that they're five people in a seat for four, but they manage to make it work. Louisa is in the passenger seat, Stan is, obviously, driving while Carlos is squished between Dave and one of the windows of the backseat, it could be worse though.

He texts his dad, letting him know he would be at a friend's house until the rain passes, then he would be back home. He sighs and stares out the window, it won't be a long ride…

**Reviews:**

**Guest:** Thank you, darling!

**Lady Dee M**

**24/04/19**

**11:19 a.m.**


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